Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed Radio Shack released a few new TRS-80 line computers in 1980. One was the introduction of Model III. It contained a Zilog Z80 processor and 4 kb of RAM> The price was only $699. Then again, you could get the TRS-80 for $399 with the Motorola 6809E CPU, or the TRS-80 Pocket computer for $230 Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 31 Windows NT 4.0 Released Sprint Early Termination Fees
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 2009 – After much planning and a couple set backs, the Digital TV transition is completed in the US. Stations will Non-profit status or emergency bands could broadcast using analog signal. 2.8 million users were still not ready for the conversion. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 11 Swiss Army Knife is patented Mr. Wizzard passes away
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1896 – Henry Ford gets ready to test drive the first Quadricycle (a.k.a. Car). Only one problem – They didn’t make the garage door big enough. Out comes the Ax – A couple chops and a wider door was created. The car ran 2 speed, but could not go in reverse. It’s all in the book – the ford century Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 4 Patent for DRAM Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Packard Bell and NEC merge
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 2008 – The Mozilla foundation made an interesting statement – They want to be in the Guinness book of world records as the most downloaded browser with Firefox 3.0. Download day was June 17th. After a problematic start, they hit their record over 8 million. Enough to make the Guinness book of World Records. Mozilla broke off of Netscape and created Firefox on November 9, 2004. Mozilla is currently the #3 browser, behind Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Mozilla 12 is the current revision. Firefox uses the Gecko engine, and is open source, so it can be customized. It can be downloaded at Mozilla.org, and also comes included in certain Linux distributions. Full ...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 2002- Netflix, the rental movie-by-mail service, initiated their Public offering. They sold 5,500,000 starting at $15 a share. They sold an additional 825,000 the next day. Of course, the Netflix stock has fluctuated over the years, including 2011, when CEO Reed Hastings tried to split their online and DVD rentals, then announced Qwikster – with hopes to sell that side of the company. Of course, he retracted that statement, but not before loosing 2/3 of stock price (was at $291 in 2011, now at $70 / share). Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 29 Vim 4.0 is released believeinkids.com became the 5 millionth domain name IEEE 1394 officially becomes “Firewire”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1988 – In competition to IBM OS/2, Microsoft releases 2 versions of Windows 2.1x – One version for x286 computers (aka Windows 286) and one for x386 computers (aka Windows 386). Windows 2/x386 introduced the protected code Kernal – applications would run as a virtual 8086 mode, and MS-DOS programs could run in parallel. Windows 2/x386 also provided EMS emulation, which would give Windows memory management features. System RAM beyond 640k could be used, and felt like banked memory. Finally, it has a Presentation Manager mode, to compete with OS/2 Windows updated this software to 2.11. It was finally retired when Windows 3.0 was released in 1990. Windows 386 Promo Video (Full video) This ...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1995 – Bill Gates sends out a memo to his staff saying that Microsoft needs to “Get back on track” to the Internet. The memo was entitled “The Internet Tidal wave.” Gates emphasizes that this is as important as IBM was to the personal computer. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 25 AMD released the K6-2 processor Samsung announces the 256 SSD Psystar files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Related articles May 25: 35 Years of Star Wars – Episode IV Released (dayintechhistory.com) Should you Use Yahoo Axis as Your Default iPad Browser? (geekazine.com) Why I Bought 1 Share of Facebook Stock (geekazine.com)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1985- Quantum Computer Services was founded. Technically, it was a reorganization of Control Video Corporation, a company that started in 1983. The company was selling online service “Gameline” to Atari 2600 users. You would pay $49.95 for the modem and also a one-time $15 setup fee. With the reorganization, Jim Kimsey became Chief Executive Officer and Marc Seriff took the CTO role. Ninety employees quit, ten remained. The company changed to sell Quantum Link for Commodore 64 and 128 consoles. Eventually, they would get into AppleLink and PC Link. Quantum Computer Services eventually (October 1989) changed their name to America Online (AOL). Jim Kimsey left AOL in 1995, where he stayed under the limelight. He was ...
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